Vacuum pumps are known which use a source of compressed air or other high-pressure fluid in order to generate a negative pressure or vacuum in a surrounding space, which can be provided as an intake portion of the pump communicating with other parts of the pump or an interface, such as a suction cup, to an object to which the vacuum is to be applied. Compressed air-driven ejectors operate by accelerating the high-pressure air through a drive nozzle and ejecting it as an air jet at high speed across a gap between the drive nozzle and an outlet flow passage or nozzle. A fluid medium in the surrounding space between the drive nozzle and outlet nozzle, e. g. the intake portion, is entrained into the high-speed flow of compressed air, and the jet flow of entrained medium and air originating from the compressed air source is ejected through the outlet nozzle. As the fluid in the space between the drive and outlet nozzles is ejected in this way, a negative pressure or vacuum is created in the volume surrounding the air jet, e.g. in the intake portion, which this fluid or medium previously occupied.
Such vacuum pumps can be provided with a suction cup or a similar device so that the negative pressure or vacuum created by the vacuum pump in the intake portion acts on the inside of the walls of the suction cup, thereby providing for a suction force which can be applied to a surface of an object which thus can be handled. Such a mechanism is generally known to be used for handling small to medium-sized articles, in particular foodstuff such as peppers, tomatoes, sausages, meat in the form of non-processed meat or in the form of hamburger patties, chocolate confectionary, chocolate bars, bread etc. If the foodstuff articles are contacted by the suction cup of a respective handling device, the suction cup is at risk of being contaminated by bacterial growth which not only applies to the contacting area itself, but also for any element downstream of the suction cup, i. e. in particular any outlet nozzle of the vacuum pump. If bacterial growth reaches the contacting area, foodstuff handled by the suction cup may be contaminated.
In order to avoid a health risk due to a possible contamination of parts of the handling device, the suction cup and any downstream element ought to be regularly replaced. This maintenance procedure is both time-consuming and expensive, depending on the number and complexity of the parts to be replaced.